like those used in some appliances. and the fact that consumers were changing their buying habits on their own, shifting to more energy efficient halogens. and those squiggly compact fluorescents. so out with the old and in with the new. >> if we're not responding to what our customers want, you know, there's no business here. >> reporter: and gone are the $30 an hour jobs employees like the madigan brothers are finding impossible to replace. >> i'm taking a job paying half of what i was making. if i've got to have a job at least $20 to $22 an hour in order to pay our bills, you know, and to keep our home. >> reporter: this was a career for tens of thousands from the dawn of the 20th century, making the lightbulbs that changed the way we lived, lighting america's homes and businesses in the entire modern industrial age. now edison's invention is going the way of the vcr. one employee said can you think of any other technology which has lasted more than a century and remained viable? it was a great run and i was part of